Out Loud: June 7, 2018

Have you ever celebrated those wacky celebratory days and months like National Popcorn Poppin’ Month (October) or Kiss & Make Up Day (Aug. 25), seriously?

This month has some doozies: Go Barefoot Day (June 1), Best Friends Day (June 8), Eat Your Vegetables Day (June 17) and World Music Day (June 21).

June is Children’s Awareness Month. Is that to remind us that we have children in case we’ve forgotten them the other 11 months of the year?

It is also National Iced Tea Month, but I don’t need to be reminded of that. Iced tea is my drink of choice year-round. If I don’t have any within reach at any given time during the day, I get antsy.

Besides being Eat Your Vegetables Day, June 17 also is Father’s Day. Is it coincidental that those two fall on the same day? Yes, it is. Father’s Day is not always June 17 but EYVD always is.

If you’re wondering where I’m going with this, I’m sliding into a patriotic subject of June 14, Flag Day.

Flag Day first was celebrated in the late 1800s at schools before being celebrated in June 14, 1891, at the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia, and then being officially adopted by several states.

Because of many nationwide celebrations of Flag Day, it was officially established by the federal proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson on May 30, 1916, and then later designated National Flag Day by an Act of Congress under President Harry Truman on Aug. 3, 1949.

No law exists about how to fly or display the American flag, but a National Flag Code was written in 1923 by representatives of a large number of organizations, under the auspices of the American Legion’s National Americanism Commission. If you want to read the National Flag Code, visit www.usflag.org.

The American flag is a symbol, a symbol of liberty, justice and all we hold dear about our country. We sing the National Anthem with our hand over our heart to this symbol. We do the same when we say the “Pledge of Allegiance.”

The liberties we enjoy under the symbol of our flag include freedom of religion, freedom to assemble, freedom to petition the government for redress of grievances, freedom of the press and the right to speak freely.

That last one can get gnarly at times, particularly in this age of social media and the Internet.

A woman wrote recently on our website in response to Idypark replacing Jo’An’s in the center of town:

“I was planning today for our family vacation this summer. Wilderness Pines and eating at Jo’an’s in the town. I am very bummed and also upset that all it took was one person to end a 50 year vacation eatery spot for many people and their families. I started going there as a very young kid in 1968 and have handed the tradition down to my kids and grandkids. The outdoor entertainment was always my favorite part of Jo’an’s; along with the hamburgers and fries.”

I’ve been hoping someone would set her straight on several points but they haven’t. Maybe they all feel like I do that it wouldn’t matter anyway. The point is, she’s upset and she vehemently expressed it under the First Amendment. Happy Flag Day!